Following a wave of retirements of veteran umpires, 10 Minor League umps
were promoted to the full-time Major League staff on Thursday. Additionally,
seven established umps were elevated to crew chief, including the second and
third Black crew chiefs.

The largest rookie umpire class since 1999 features four products of MLB
Umpire Camps<https://www.mlb.com/official-information/umpires/camps> and two
men who have served in the United States Air Force. The newly promoted
umpires include:

  *   Malachi Moore, a 32-year-old California resident who had been a Minor
League ump since 2012 and has worked 156 big league games.


Malachi Moore introduced himself to me in 2012, seeking to work community
college games prior to entering his 1st season in professional baseball.
Even as he progressed his way thru MiLB, Malachi continued to work OEC games
in preparation for Spring Training each season. His final season in the OEC
was 2019 (we even worked together @ GWC), as his AAA crew chief duties
became more pressing. In 2020, Malachi worked 20 MLB games during the Covid
season. He worked an additional 136 MLB games over the last 2 seasons, in
addition to his AAA duties. When we spoke during the season last year, he
honestly thought it would be '24 or '25 when he might get the call. It's
like I always say though, 'you can never hide a good umpire.'

Many of you know Mal for hosting the annual 1-day free umpiring clinic in
December @ the MLB Urban Youth Academy on the campus of Compton College.
Hopefully, that will continue. He has dedicated himself to mentoring others
and to growing the profession of officiating as a career, and has helped
countless young umpires both on & off-the-field.

Please join me in a hearty congratulations on Mal's worthy promotion...well
done my friend. We all look forward to your successes over the next 30 years
or so, and we will closely be following your progress! As a note, Malachi no
longer will have a triple-digit #. His new # is 44, last worn by the
recently retired Kerwin Danley. Let's hope his mask does not become the
'ball-finder' of that as his predecessor... :)

Best,
Gary Gilman / Orange Empire Conference
Coordinator of Baseball Officials